Mostly August

We were back from our trip to England late on 28th July. A day to recover from the journey, then out on the rocks on the Bantry Bay side of the peninsula on the 30th.

Main aim was to find out if the mackerel had turned up in force in our absence. They hadn't really - I worked a set of Sabikis till my arms were dropping off and only had four. Most interesting thing by far was the appearence of a couple of sardines.

Suspecting the mackerel would be scarce, I'd brought along a set of heavy gear to drop a big bait close in. I've had some nice huss and particularly conger on this mark before. 

I missed a good run first cast, it felt a weighty fish for the split second it took to rip the mackerel head from the hook. Second cast I had two good yanks then nothing ... I thought the mackerel head might be gone again but it was still there, completely crushed. Third time lucky maybe ... out went another head and within a minute I had another good run. I tightened down into a powerful fish, and soon had a very nice conger thrashing and spinning on the surface, I'd say not as big as a couple of the eels I've had there but close to 20lbs. I led it along to my left where I hoped to be able to slide it out onto a lower ledge, but there was still a bit of a lift on this neap tide. While I was waiting for a bigger swell to help, the conger finally twisted itself off the hook. I should have just got on with it! Oddly I couldn't get another touch after that, leading me to believe the same eel had been responsible for all the bites.

I'd brought some soft plastic toys back from England to play with, some larger size Zman Crawz and some purple Zman Minnowz that my Facebook friend Craig recommended as deadly for wrasse. I couldn't find the "Purple Death" ones so had to settle for a slightly paler shade, "Mood Ring". I suspect it doesn't make a lot of difference ... I had a short but very enjoyable session on 31st July on the rocks in Dunmanus Bay catching several chunky wrasse and a pollack about 3lbs that took the Minnowz on the drop before I'd even started to retrieve...

There was history to the bass rod, a veteran of 35 years. I shut the spigot in the tailgate of my car about fifteen years ago, splitting it badly. At the time I effected a repair by gluing a length of carbon inside the split spigot, plenty of glue in the cracks, taping it up while the glue cured then sanding it smooth. Perhaps surprisingly, everything held fine till it finally let go mid-cast on the rocks all these years later.

Like most (all?) old Zzippies the spigot formed the bottom end of the tip and pushed down into the butt. Fortunately just enough was protruding from the butt for me to get a grip on it with pliers and pull it out. Fortunately also it was a pretty clean break so a minimum of tidying up the bottom of the tip was required.

I couldn't see any way of replicating the original spigot arrangement with the materials I had to hand so instead I now have a new spigot glued into the top of the butt to push up into the tip. The spigot is actually a length cut from an old Penn beachcaster and I glued a second, slimmer, section of the Penn inside to give the spigot a double thickness. The extra wraps of carbon Zziplex added round the top of the butt and still there round the bottom of the tip should stop any splitting. Fingers crossed...

I did more mackerel trips on the 9th, and with the repaired bass rod on the 16th and 27th, all in conditions nearly as rough. I  had good bags each time and the average size was unusually high. No more sardines but there have been a few scad among the mackerel as bycatch.

The bass rod has held up well so far.

I'll keep doing a few short mackerel sessions during September and October for fish to eat and fresh bait, but I already have enough frozen down for bait for next winter's and spring's fishing, so the pressure is off in that respect.

On the 8th I had to drive Sylvi up to Cork Airport for another UK trip, and by lunchtime I was back at Rosscarbery.

It was a totally bleak day with thick drizzle being blown horizontally on a stiff west breeze, and like last time few if any signs of mullet out front.

It was a very quiet afternoon sat under the brolly, but into the last hour I had a good pull on my right hand rod. The mullet ran out a little then held its ground for a couple of minutes, often the sign of a good fish. Eventually it started kiting in to my right and after a couple more spells of resistance it was in the net. It was a very chunky thicklip of 5:09.

In this month's instalment of Things Ain't What They Used To Be, here's a pic of the rim of my Korum folding spoon net. The two halves sprang apart landing the 5:09, they were held together by the barely 3mm of self-tapping screw visible on the right side, which also acted as the "hinge" when folding the net.

Understandably the plastic into which it screwed was knackered after just over a year of use. What a shockingly poor piece of design. I removed the screw, drilled through the joint and fitted a small stainless nut and bolt. A simple job which rather begs the question, why didn't Korum do it that way in the first place?

I put the pic and a minor whinge on my Facebook and behold, lots of negative comments about Korum gear, and especially their net heads failing in a variety of ways. I've had a lot of good Korum kit, and I'm loving their Glide float rod that I've been using a few months, it would be a pity if their quality standards are indeed slipping.

The windy weather continued, too swelly to contemplate getting out on the rocks so mulleting was the order of the day. I fancied a change from Ross after a couple of slow sessions, so on the 12th I headed over to Clonakilty to check out the estuary there. I drove down to Ring, stopping to look at several spots but only saw a handful of smallish fish. I relocated to a spot between Glandore and Union Hall that I used to fish regularly, but not so much recently. 

There was plenty of mullety activity over the low water slack but I only mustered three bites at unpredictable times and in different parts of the swim. They were very positive bites to be fair, the float plunging under, but I missed all three cleanly on the strike. I was a bit annoyed with myself to be honest, and went back the next day to make amends. There were far fewer mullet about today and I only had one definite bite, but I hit it this time and landed a thicklip a couple of ounces shy of 3lbs...

I fished one rod well out with mackerel/squid and prawn/squid cocktails, and the other closer in with mackerel head baits.

The first couple of hours passed with just odd rattles on the rod tips, nothing that hung on. Then about an hour before high water, a good run on the mackerel head.

I was using a circle hook so I just tightened down ... everything seemed solid for a moment, then the rotten bottom to the lead broke and I was playing what seemed a very weighty fish. The fight didn't last long at all ... just heave really to keep the fish moving else it would be down in the kelp in an instant. Within a minute it was on the surface, not a huss but a conger, and a big one at that. I played it in to the edge, grabbed the trace and half slid, half lifted the eel out. It was definitely my biggest in Ireland but I couldn't be bothered with wrestling it into a bag to get a weight. I estimated it at 25 - 30lbs and I'm pretty confident about that as I caught several around this size when I used to fish for them in Dorset. The rest of the session was quietish ... a single dogfish then a huss about 5 or 6lbs just as I was starting to pack up.

The weather had taken a turn for the worse again, low clouds scudding up the bay on a wind that freshened all day, and periods of drizzle though at least the heavier rain threatening mostly held off.

The first hour of the tide was quiet, then a veritable doggie-fest set in for the next three hours or so. They were all over both the smaller baits I was fishing at range and the mackerel heads I was fishing close in ... but somewhere in the middle of it all a very nice huss about 11lbs managed to get to one of the heads first.

About ninety minutes before high water the doggies turned off like a light, and I was suddenly much more confident of finding some better fish. My distance rod nodded then the line fell slack ... a thornback about 7lbs. Next cast, the rod pulled over hard ... another huss, a pound lighter and much darker than the first.

On the 18th I had a lie-in to recover from the Kerry trip, walked the dog, had lunch then headed out onto the Dunmanus Bay rocks a short way east of the village.

The swell was marginal and likely to get worse with the flooding tide but I managed about ninety minutes before deciding it was too much. Of that I wasted an hour on soft plastics for the wrasse, they were clearly not in the mood today, or just not there. I changed over to a Redgill for pollack ... not exactly hectic either but I had a couple about 3lbs each. I return most of my fish but I kept these two, one for us and one for our neighbours, taking two perfect-size fillets off each. Both looked well fed fish but I was surprised both were empty, given many of the mackerel I'd been catching were full of sandeel.

The 21st was a gloomy day with a freshening but warm southerly wind ahead of the arrival of ex-hurricane Ernesto that night.

I've had good bags of mullet at Ross before in similar conditions, fishing from the grass into the wind. It did indeed prove a busy day.

Before lunch I had a 4:04 and a 4:03 in rapid succession, one on each rod. The 4:03 was my 100th mullet of the year, mostly courtesy of a very productive winter season. Then I was in again on my left hand rod, and while I was playing a mullet of 3:09 the right hand rod pulled round too. I'd loosened off the drag as I'd moved away so I wouldn't risk losing the rod while my attention was elsewhere, but the downside of that is that you don't necessarily get such a positive hook-set. The mullet was there when I finally picked up the rod, and felt a bigger fish, but after a few seconds the hook came out.

Just after lunch I was in again on the left rod, and amazingly the right rod pulled over again too while I was playing the first fish. This time everything hung on for a brace just either side of 3lbs.

After a long wait, much later in the day my left rod pulled over again. The fish didn't run off strongly like the one I lost this morning, but it seemed to have some weight to it and it only came in very slowly, with the odd short surge out again.

After maybe eight or nine minutes I had the mullet in the edge and into the net. It was a nicely proportioned thicklip of 5:05.

It was a good fish but I wasn't expecting it to win the Rover ... it did though, on a much reduced entry it has to be said, presumably weather-related.

The last few days of August were forecast better weather, but there was still a fresh wind and a couple of metres of swell running up Bantry Bay on the 28th.

I headed well up the Bay again, to the mark where I'd had the conger mid-month.

There was plenty of action on the tips today with rattly bites on most casts. I'm pretty sure it was all dogfish, but I only hooked a couple on the big baits I was using.

A couple of hours before high water, the ratchet on my Slosh 30 signalled a proper run. I lifted into a heavy fish and kept it moving up away from the kelp before dragging it out onto the rocks ... a huss of dead on 10lbs.

By the 30th, summer seemed to have returned for a few days, with bright sun and a light south-east breeze. However, down on the rocks in Dunmanus Bay there was still an uneasy swell rolling in from the Atlantic.

I'd just taken my old carp rod and some soft plastics for wrasse, but it was harder going than it had been earlier in the month. Wrasse are tough fish but I do wonder if, in prolonged rough spells like we had through August, they mostly evacuate the rock margins and move offshore a little where the water is less unsettled.

Anyway, I stuck with it and had a few, mostly on the larger size of Zman Crawz. Biggest was the one in the photo which went 3:12.